How This Company Is Using Psychedelic Medicines and Therapies to Treat Addiction and Mental Illness

Courtesy of: MindMed

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Despite the fact that around 450 million people globally suffer from mental illnesses, access to mental healthcare is still a challenge in most parts of the world, including the U.S. As conversations about mental health grow more prominent, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a pressing need for new and innovative ways to provide treatment.

Mind Medicine Inc. MNMD MMED, known as MindMed, is on a mission to develop innovative, psychedelic-assisted treatments. Its drug pipeline includes trials related to psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and an ibogaine derivative, 18-Methoxycoronaridine (18-MC), to help treat mental health issues.

MindMed is a clinical-stage psychedelic medicine biotech company that seeks to discover, develop and deploy psychedelic-inspired medicines and therapies to address addiction and mental illness. The company brings together a team of experts with extensive biopharmaceutical experience to develop the next generation of psychedelic-inspired medicines and therapies.

MindMed to the Rescue

About 21 million Americans struggle with at least one form of substance use disorder. However, only 10% of the population currently receive treatment. Addiction is a chronic brain disease that stems from the neurology of the brain, driven by a set of disease processes including the dysregulation of dopamine, a potent neurotransmitter, in the brain’s reward/pleasure center.

MindMed is developing the psychedelic drug 18-MC to treat the neurological underpinnings of addiction. It aims to develop and deploy treatments for cue-intended relapse, which is one of the most common and challenging aspects of substance-use disorder.

The company is using 18-MC to treat addiction without the hallucinogenic and potential negative side effects of ibogaine by correcting the dysregulation in the brain’s reward/pleasure center.

Prescribed opioids such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine are the most common way to treat patients with severe acute pain. However, as awareness of opioid-driven deaths and addiction continue to rise, physicians are left in a tight spot when treating patients.

Reducing daily dosage for patients prescribed opioid therapy — a process called tapering —  has proven unsuccessful in some patients as it brings worsened pain and depressed mood. 

Earlier this year, MindMed launched a research project called Project Angie to study the treatment of pain using psychedelics. The company believes psychedelics may offer an entirely different way of treating pain, which could then offer patients a new treatment option.

With Project Angie, MindMed seeks to improve mental health as well as help fight substance abuse in patients who are in need by offering a substitute to the use of addictive opioids which are at present devastating the society.

As anxiety diagnoses continue to grow at an alarming rate, new multidimensional solutions to this problem are urgently needed rather than relying on traditional approaches to mental health care. Through Project Lucy, MindMed is addressing anxiety and the appalling effects that may come with it, such as anxiety medication addictions, with LSD-assisted therapy.

Project Lucy studies hallucinogenic dosing of LSD to treat anxiety, administered by a therapist. LSD increases brain communication and supports talk therapy by expanding the mind and minimizing inhibitions. MindMed has already acquired the rights to an ongoing Phase 2 Anxiety clinical trial from University Hospital Basel’s Liechti Lab, being led by Dr. Peter Gasser and Dr. Matthias Liechti.

Psychedelics and the Financial Market

The world's first psychedelics exchange-traded fund (ETF) began trading on the Canadian NEO Exchange in January, offering investors exposure to 17 publicly traded companies focused on psychedelics, including MindMed. MindMed’s stock soared 250% 3 months after the launch.

Psychedelics have also attracted the attention of popular figures like Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk. At a recent CodeCon 2021 interview, Musk gave a thumbs up for the future growth and the acceptance of psychedelics. Analysts believe Musk’s support for psychedelics will have some serious positive effects on the market — the same way he has been influencing the crypto markets.

The psychedelic drug industry is currently worth nearly $2.8 billion, but it is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2028, according to a research by Data Bridge Research.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.